Kate Malone & Dame Zandra Rhodes – From Clay to Catwalk

Pioneering ceramicist Kate Malone joins visionary fashion and textile designer Dame Zandra Rhodes for a vibrant exchange exploring their shared passion for ceramics – Malone as a celebrated maker and Rhodes as a devoted collector. Together they will delve into their respective handcrafted practices of ceramics and screen-printing, exploring the role of colour, pattern and form. They will also reflect on their commitment to education through their charities and foundations, and the importance of nurturing future generations. A lively, personal conversation celebrating the transformative power of creativity and craft.

Dame Zandra Rhodes is a British fashion and textile designer renowned for her bold and colourful hand-drawn prints and unmistakable personal style. Having graduated from the Royal College of Art with a Master’s in Printed Textiles in 1964, Rhodes went on to revolutionise the fashion industry as a trailblazer in fusing the craft of screen-printing and fashion design. She launched her label in 1969, designing five decades of ground-breaking fashion collections and dressing rock stars and royalty, including Freddie Mercury and Princess Diana. Her designs are housed in prestigious museums globally. In 2003, Rhodes founded London’s Fashion and Textile Museum and in 2020, she established the Zandra Rhodes Foundation to preserve her legacy and open her vast archive as a learning resource for current and future generations. Rhodes continues to work from her London studio, focusing on both archiving her life’s output and designing new collaborations with leading fashion and lifestyle brands. She recently published her memoir, ICONIC: My Life in Fashion in 50 Objects and had a solo exhibition, Zandra Rhodes: A Life in Print at The Holburne Museum, Bath.

Kate Malone’s career spans 40 years of making ceramics ranging from small jewel-like pieces to large public art projects for hospitals, schools, libraries and with architects. Using a variety of hand-building techniques and a personally developed wide palette of crystalline stoneware glaze colours, her work is inspired by both the abstract energy in nature and by nature in its true form. In 2018, she was awarded an MBE for services to the field of ceramic art and strongly advocates the benefits of clay in education and the community. She is co-founder of FiredUp4, a charity that works to place clay into young hands in areas of particular need. She is also an ambassador for Museum of the Home and London Potters. Her ceramic works are housed in prestigious museums globally and her work is studied on the national curriculum. Exhibiting internationally with Adrian Sassoon, Kate has two monographs of her work: A Book of Pots, 2001, published by Bloomsbury Press, and The Art of Kate Malone, Force of Nature, 2024, published by Skira.